Catholic school teacher fired for same-sex marriage plans

by Brian Roewe

NCR Today

A Catholic school music teacher in St. Louis, Mo. has lost his job after church officials learned of his plans to marry his male partner of 20 years.

According to a story in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Al Fischer was fired Feb. 17 from St. Ann Catholic School in north St. Louis County. His partner Charlie Robin told the Post Dispatch that the two's relationship was well known at the school -- he attended staff parties and school concerts -- and it was only after an archdiocesan official overheard Fischer speaking of their wedding plans that he was terminated.

Fischer and Robin plan to marry March 9 in New York.

At one point in a letter Fischer sent to parents, he said "I think the word has been well spread that this is not the fault of St. Ann School or its leadership, and I want to emphasize that I get it, too. ... [the school's principal and priest] are still there for me in a big way."